Thinking, Fast and Slow

By: Daniel Kahneman

Narrated by: Patrick Egan

Length: 20 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's summary

The guru to the gurus at last shares his knowledge with the rest of us. Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman's seminal studies in behavioral psychology, behavioral economics, and happiness studies have influenced numerous other authors, including Steven Pinker and Malcolm Gladwell. In Thinking, Fast and Slow, Kahneman at last offers his own, first book for the general public. It is a lucid and enlightening summary of his life's work. It will change the way you think about thinking.

Two systems drive the way we think and make choices, Kahneman explains: System One is fast, intuitive, and emotional; System Two is slower, more deliberative, and more logical. Examining how both systems function within the mind, Kahneman exposes the extraordinary capabilities as well as the biases of fast thinking and the pervasive influence of intuitive impressions on our thoughts and our choices. Engaging the reader in a lively conversation about how we think, he shows where we can trust our intuitions and how we can tap into the benefits of slow thinking, contrasting the two-system view of the mind with the standard model of the rational economic agent.

Kahneman's singularly influential work has transformed cognitive psychology and launched the new fields of behavioral economics and happiness studies. In this path-breaking book, Kahneman shows how the mind works, and offers practical and enlightening insights into how choices are made in both our business and personal lives - and how we can guard against the mental glitches that often get us into trouble.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2011 Daniel Kahneman (P)2011 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“A tour de force... Kahneman’s book is a must read for anyone interested in either human behavior or investing. He clearly shows that while we like to think of ourselves as rational in our decision making, the truth is we are subject to many biases. At least being aware of them will give you a better chance of avoiding them, or at least making fewer of them.” (Larry Swedroe, CBS News)

“A major intellectual event... The work of Kahneman and Tversky was a crucial pivot point in the way we see ourselves.” (David Brooks, The New York Times)

“[Thinking, Fast and Slow] is wonderful, of course. To anyone with the slightest interest in the workings of his own mind, it is so rich and fascinating that any summary would seem absurd.” (Michael Lewis, Vanity Fair)

Brilliant

Brilliant book. Some much depth to the content. It’s a heavy listen but we’ll worth it.

Eye opening and full attention required

Really insightful book about our brain and how we perceive information. What we believe intuition is and how Daniel uses “system 1” and “system 2” as the two main characters in the book. Highly recommend you focus 100% when listening to this book. I might buy the hard copy and read it, takes a lot of system 2 :)

How to think rationally

An excellent overview of a collection of studies regarding how to think rationally and logically. It borrows some concepts from psychology, and others from behavioral economics. My only critique is that sometimes the author (who conducted a lot of these studies) seemingly does not see the possibility of any flaw to his studies or the outcomes derived from them. At one point, in response to his critics, he simply says they're wrong. Another issue with this book is that he *frequently* says refer to chart/table #. While I have previously seen a lot of these studies, I was familiar with most of the graphs. However, it would ultimately seem to me this book is favorable on paper, rather than as an audiobook. Overall, the content is solid and from a reputable author. I highly recommend this book.

Quit on this early

I did not feel the narrator at all. Listen to the sample and ask yourself if that is a voice you want to spend 20 hours int eh car with?

Struggle to read

Couldn't finish more than 4 chapters. The author is trying to uncover an important topic but the writing is bad, and it got me sleepy

Thinking too slowly

This book is at least 50% too long, too long, too long, too long... too long

I read this too late.

most of the info you get from this book has been rehashed in other books. if you keep up with newly published econ books this might be too long.

Very Interesting insight into the works of the brain

I really like this book due to its capacity of explaining such a complex topic to grasp by using simple examples that one can understand more clearly and therefore can start to notice more often. A very informative piece of work that has done research into a topic I’ve ponder for a long while.

A great book for reading…..not best suited for audible.

This is a great book for reading. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for listening. The audio version requires PDF or visual content. I purchased the audio version thinking it would differ from the physical book, unfortunately it is not. I didn’t have the time or space to sit and read, which encouraged me to the audio version. I cannot say it was a good trade off.

It was somewhat hard to follow. You’ll need to devote listening and 100% attentiveness at all time to keep up.

Overall, the material is good so far though.

Prob a better book to read!

Audio worked fine but subject is probably better read than heard. Get lost at times.